Kinzer, in Globe, points out fluidity of national borders.

In the Boston Globe, Visiting Fellow Stephen Kinzer reminds us that borders between nations have always been fluid, shifting as power ebbs and flows -- witness the Sykes-Picot Line, the Durand Line, and shifting borders across Africa. While it's important to respect the sanctity of borders, he says, it would be dangerous to reject change, especially in the case of Iraq and Syria. "Accepting new borders," he writes, "can be less destabilizing than fighting to defend old ones."